Posted on 2nd August 2017 Great week at Pawprints!
Just back from a great week at Pawprints holiday home in North Devon with our 3 dogs and 3 teenagers. We have had many holidays in many holiday cottages over the years but I can safely say this was the best one by far. So often we have visited "dogs allowed" holiday homes but so often the gardens are not secure, and the rules are very rigid.
Pawprints is different; we were allowed to bring all 3 dogs; the dogs were allowed on the sofas (our Deerhound cross has his own sofa at home - they don't make dog beds big enough for him! - so normally trying to keep him off the sofas in other holiday homes has been very difficult!); dogs were allowed upstairs in the bedroom (which meant our other two could sleep in our room - which is what they do at home) and they were even allowed on the beds! So relaxing to allow our dogs to do what they normally do and not having to stress and worry all the time. Wonderful.
Also the back garden was completely secure - even for our saluki x lurcher who is capable of jumping over very high fences - so we could relax and not stress about anyone escaping (unlike so many other cottages we have visited). The front garden also has good fencing but a determined jumper can get out if unsupervised.
Views are fabulous, location fabulous - just a 10 minute walk into the very pretty village of Appledore; or 5 minutes to the mud-flats and open spaces of Northam Burrows. There were livestock - sheep and horses loose all over the Burrows so we did need to keep our dogs on a lead more than we had hoped - and also when visiting Northam Burrows beach; which was a shame. However we also visited Saunton Beach which was very beautiful and had miles of dunes for the dogs to run around; there are cattle but they are fenced into areas that are well sign-posted and easy to avoid.
It was a fabulous holiday, we all had a great time. Plenty of dog-friendly attractions too; I particularly recommend Broomhill Sculpture gardens - really interesting and was popular with the dogs AND the teenagers!
Personally for me though, the very best thing about Pawprints was that you could hear the very evocative calls of the curlew and oystercatchers; not just when walking on the mud-flats, but also when sitting in the garden; or even just with the window open. Magical, especially when watching the glorious sunsets.
Pawprints is different; we were allowed to bring all 3 dogs; the dogs were allowed on the sofas (our Deerhound cross has his own sofa at home - they don't make dog beds big enough for him! - so normally trying to keep him off the sofas in other holiday homes has been very difficult!); dogs were allowed upstairs in the bedroom (which meant our other two could sleep in our room - which is what they do at home) and they were even allowed on the beds! So relaxing to allow our dogs to do what they normally do and not having to stress and worry all the time. Wonderful.
Also the back garden was completely secure - even for our saluki x lurcher who is capable of jumping over very high fences - so we could relax and not stress about anyone escaping (unlike so many other cottages we have visited). The front garden also has good fencing but a determined jumper can get out if unsupervised.
Views are fabulous, location fabulous - just a 10 minute walk into the very pretty village of Appledore; or 5 minutes to the mud-flats and open spaces of Northam Burrows. There were livestock - sheep and horses loose all over the Burrows so we did need to keep our dogs on a lead more than we had hoped - and also when visiting Northam Burrows beach; which was a shame. However we also visited Saunton Beach which was very beautiful and had miles of dunes for the dogs to run around; there are cattle but they are fenced into areas that are well sign-posted and easy to avoid.
It was a fabulous holiday, we all had a great time. Plenty of dog-friendly attractions too; I particularly recommend Broomhill Sculpture gardens - really interesting and was popular with the dogs AND the teenagers!
Personally for me though, the very best thing about Pawprints was that you could hear the very evocative calls of the curlew and oystercatchers; not just when walking on the mud-flats, but also when sitting in the garden; or even just with the window open. Magical, especially when watching the glorious sunsets.
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